National Day Practice

Five F-16 fighter planes fly in formation across the sky in Singapore.

Practice has already begun for Singapore's National Day celebrations on 9 August.  The big event this year will not be held as usual at the National Stadium on Marina Bay because Singapore will turn 45 this year, and every five years the festivities take move nearby to the Padang, the green stretching along so many government offices and historic buildings.  It will displace the summer activities of the Singapore Cricket Club, and bleachers and lights are already being erected on the site.  The event features a heavy display of military hardware and special forces tactics, hardly a surprise for a nation that requires every young male citizen to do two years national service.

The flag of Singapore over the city's skyline.  One tower of the new Marina Bay Sands casino appears at the far right.

While I wrote the previous post on fashion label hansel, contingents of helicopters and F-16 fighter planes flew across the skyline view outside the Passenger's apartment and into the clouds gathering for an early afternoon downpour.  The helicopters carried a giant Singapore flag.

A closer view of the giant flag.  Click the picture for a larger image.

Want to learn about Singapore's national anthem? Want to know more about the parade? All the patriotism an expatriate needs lives on the NDP 2010 website.